He was right. We had to get Schiff out of the SCIF basement. Only open, aboveground hearings would give us the fair fight we knew we could win. Enough congressional niceties for me. I was busting in to flush the Democrats out—and I’d lead my own coalition of the willing.
Just as Schiff was asking me to leave (again), the SCIF door swung open with force. I didn’t see an arm, hand, or face, but a crutch plowing through the opening. Republican Whip and bonafide Ragin’ Cajun Rep. Steve Scalise had not long ago been shot by a Bernie Sanders devotee and Southern Poverty Law Center fan and reduced to crutches during his recovery.
“We aren’t leaving,” he announced. I was relieved to see Steve. I was only partially certain that any of my colleagues would follow me from the routine press conference to undertake the riskier invasion of the SCIF. None disappointed. Leadership can inspire, especially in the spur of the moment. Steve Scalise inspires all who serve among us. It was an honor to have him as my wingman. He stands tall even when he hobbles. Our physical presence, our resistance some might call it, drove home the point in a manner speeches or outraged prose alone couldn’t.
The American people were being shut out of the Schiff star chamber, but we had come to jailbreak the truth. Nothing much good happens in basements, and so we wanted sunlight to disinfect the whole process. The media was forced to cover our objections, now made vivid and ripened. Rather than complaining about an unfair process, we had images and video now to show it. And every network ran the video of our operation wall to wall. Perfect. Sometimes you have to put on a show to show up.
To hear critics such as Mieke Eoyang, a former House Intelligence Committee staffer, tell it (in a stream of angry tweets that got reprinted as a Vox article), we had practically raided the Cheyenne Mountain headquarters of NORAD and put the entire apparatus of national security in jeopardy—“a VERY serious national security problem,” she tweeted. Spare me.
If anyone violated the great sanctity of the SCIF it was Adam Schiff by turning it into his mysterious kangaroo court. There was no classified information sought or offered during these interviews. Schiff wasn’t hiding from the Russians/Chinese/Iranians down in that bunker. He was hiding from us—and we found him.
“You broke the fever!” Steve Bannon’s voice and energy are unmistakable. He was the first call I took upon being reunited with my phone. Electronics aren’t allowed in the SCIF, even for righteous invaders. Bannon was right. Demonstrative action beats rigid adherence to rules written by others in a game that the people so rarely win. Most Americans would soon agree that the process used by Democrats was unfair. A fall 2019 Politico poll showed only 37 percent of voters supporting impeachment proceedings.
From this, they would never recover. The veil of legitimacy and equity was stripped. This wasn’t about Ukraine or Russia or arms—arms that Trump delivered and Obama withheld. The Democrats were being exposed as sore losers. President Trump had promised us that we would win so much that we would get “tired of winning,” but every now and again the president needs a great team to help him prevail.
December 9, 2019
House Judiciary Committee.
“You don’t get to interrupt me!” I shouted at Stanford Law Professor (and outed “Resistance” member) Pamela Karlan.
When faced with the outrage of others, sometimes it’s good to have a reservoir of your own. Never grant the premise of the question, the sanctity of the venue, or the validity of the endeavor to the Left. They were trying to ruin the Trump presidency. Sure, they had contempt for us, but I had more than enough for them. It’s not every day that I, a graduate of William & Mary Law School (ranked 31), get to tell a Stanford Law professor (ranked 2) exactly what I think of those who think so little of the American people.
Once we got into a fair fight we had to win it. Then and now, Team Trump doesn’t win by playing by the “norms” of Washington aka “establishment rules.” Politicians worshipping at the altar of said norms soon find themselves in political graveyards alongside Jeb Bush, John Kerry, John Kasich, and, of course, Hillary. In fact, in each of our most recent presidential contests, the winner seems to have been the candidate who followed the script the least! Don’t play by the book if you want to write a chapter of history.
In an era in which everyone has to have a hot take, it’s always fun to scald them by reminding them of their worst ones. Karlan was an outraged and outrageous witness. She made fun of the president’s minor son’s name. On a Versus Trump podcast, she revealed how partisan she is by saying, “Conservatives can’t even stand to be around each other.”
UNC Law Professor Michael Gerhardt, another Democrat impeachment witness, had donated to Barack Obama. Four times.
Harvard Law Professor Noah Feldman was on record writing that Trump should be impeached for mean tweets, owning Mar-a-Lago, and attacking the Fake News. Feldman had previously admitted, also in writing, that impeachment was “primarily, or even exclusively, a tool to weaken President Trump’s chances in 2020.” Feldman gets some points for honesty there.
These were the “unbiased witnesses” Chairman Nadler called to craft a legal framework for impeachment analysis. Nadler had his own problems, targeted by an AOC-backed primary challenger in his district, and needed to put on an anti-Trump show. A Democratic primary is a dangerous place for an old, unattractive white guy in New York. Just ask now former Rep. Joe Crowley.
Both corruption and the Resistance to America’s rising conservative populism should be on plain display for the public, not cooped up in stuffy congressional hearings. I’m sure my aggressive, sometimes angry questioning of these supposed titans of legal education didn’t win me votes in faculty
